The Marshal Pt. 03

"We will." Martinelli motioned, and the Marshal at the door opened it and stepped inside. It was clear the meeting was over.

"Can Marshal Cogburn and I have a moment... alone?" Bae asked.

Martinelli glanced between them. "Sure," he said before he stepped out and closed the door.

Rob reached into his pocket, pulled out a card holder, and removed a card before tucking it away again. He handed it to her. "When you go into witness security, they'll take that from you," he said with a nod at the card. "Memorize the number. If you ever need me, call that number. I'll be there."

She wanted to cry. "You will?"

He nodded. "Yes."

She extended her hand. He took it, but it wasn't enough. She didn't care that he was covered in dried slime, and she threw her arms around him. She didn't kiss him, even though she wanted to, but she had to feel his embrace one last time. His arms closed softly around her. "Thank you. I'll never forget you," she whispered into his ear.

She could sense his smile. "Nor I, you."

She stepped back from the hug and wiped at the tear that was threatening. She gathered herself. "Thank you, Deputy Marshal Cogburn, thank you for keeping me safe."

"Just doing my job, Ms. Han."

She pursed her lips. "You better go before I cry."

He smiled at her softly. "Don't do that. You're safe now."

She swallowed and nodded. She didn't love him, but she was going to be sorry to see him leave. She wondered what they might have had under different circumstances. Rob might be leaving, but she still had the memories of their time together in the car, of his dedication to keeping her safe, of his making love to her. They were good memories, memories she'd cherish for a long, long time.

"You're right. No tears," she said, forcing a smile to her lips.

"Maybe I'll see you around," he rasped as he opened the door.

He wasn't moving very well, and she could tell he was hurting. Another marshal, a woman this time, talked to him a moment, took his arm, and escorted him away. Again the green monster reared its head and Bae had to shove it back down. She tucked his card into a pocket.

Martinelli stepped back into the room. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

"No. Is Rob going to get some help?"

"Yes. He's on his way to the hospital now to get looked over, and we're making arrangements for your safety. Can you tell me what happened yesterday and today?"

She told him everything she knew, holding nothing back, while pumping Rob up as much as she could. She explained how Rob had figured out how Kwang-hoon had found them yesterday and what happened this morning.

He nodded. "Han has overreached this time. I'll add killing a federal deputy marshal, assuming Cogburn is correct, to the list of things to charge him with." He looked at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What do you think of Cogburn. Do you think he did his job?"

She glared at the little asshole. "Let me tell you something, Mr. Martinelli. The only reason I'm standing here for you to ask me that stupid question is because of Deputy Marshal Robert Cogburn. If you're looking for a scapegoat for what happened, you better look somewhere else. If you try to lay this at Rob's feet, I won't give you shit, understand?"

"He was with you all the time?"

"Every minute of every day."

"Even at night?"

Her glare intensified. "Every fucking night, sleeping in a chair with his feet against the door."

He nodded. "Okay. To be honest, Rob Cogburn should be fired." He held up his hand when she opened her mouth. "Let me finish. He broke every rule in the book, and a few that weren't even in there, and yet, somehow, against every odd, you're standing here in front of me without a scratch on you. He should be fired, but he'll probably get a commendation." He smiled. "It doesn't hurt he reduced Han's ranks by three, either.

A woman marshal opened the door. "We're ready."

He nodded. "Thank you. She'll be there in a moment."

"What's happening?" Bae asked.

"The marshals are going to transport you to our safe site where at least two marshals will be with you at all times. Do what they say. Their only job is to keep you safe. Get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow you and I will go over what's expected of you and what I'll do for you in return. You'll have to sign some paperwork, but it's just a formality. We've done this hundreds of times. After that, we'll begin your deposition."

She nodded. Rob kept assuring her about how competent the witsec people were, but even standing here, surrounded by federal marshals, she missed the comfort and security of his presence. All the marshals in the world couldn't make her feel as safe as Rob did.

"This way, Ms. Han," he said, gesturing at the door.

A pair of female marshals took charge of her. Like Lou Hernández, the two women were toned, fit, and no nonsense, just like the two marshals who were protecting her in L.A. What she'd taken for arrogant bitches then, she now saw as professionalism. They escorted her to the garage and placed her in an SUV with windows so dark no one couldn't see in, though she could easily see out.

They drove though Lower Manhattan, following no discernible route, before pulling into the garage of a nondescript high rise. Like Rob, one of the women took her arm and led her to the fifth floor, stopping before a door that looked like all the others. Bae wondered if all the rooms in the building, on the floor, or adjacent to this one contained people whose lives were in danger.

"Make yourself at home, Ms. Han. I'm Deputy Marshal Glennwood, this is Deputy Marshal Castle. It's our job to keep you safe. Stay away from the windows, please, and obviously, don't try to leave the apartment."

Bae nodded. "I know the drill. If anyone comes to the door, I'm supposed to go to the bedroom."

Glennwood nodded and smiled. "That's right. The more you cooperate, the more pleasant for everyone."

She smiled. "You have a first name? I'm Bo-bae. Friends call me Bae."

Glennwood smiled in return. "Peggy. That's Wonder Woman," she said with a grinning glance at Castle.

Castle rolled her eyes. "Diana."

Bae licked her lips. "I hate to be a pain in the ass, but can we eat early? I missed lunch."

Peggy grinned. "We heard. Did Rooster really kill a guy with his bare hands?"

"Which time?"

The two marshals glanced at each other. "Which time? How many times did he do it?"

Bae grinned, enjoying herself. "Only once that I'm sure of. I don't know for sure he actually killed the first guy, that fake marshal guy in L.A. He may have only beaten the shit out of him before he threw him out of the car."

"But he actually killed a guy today?"

"Three, actually. Two of them he shot. The fight I didn't actually see, but I heard it."

"And he saved you from a bomb on a plane?"

Bae nodded. It was like who had the best kissing story when she was a kid at summer camp. "Kind of. There was no bomb on the plane. It was just a ploy to get us out in the open. Don't forget the tornado."

"Tornado?" Diana asked. "Where?"

"Knoxville, Tennessee. I don't know if it was actually a tornado, but the next morning a tree was on the roof of the motel and a car."

"You're shitting me!"

Bae held up her hand. "I swear. Ask Rob yourself if you don't believe me. That was kind of scary."

"Jesus. And he drove you all the way from California?"

"Yeah. From L.A. to here. All three thousand miles, or whatever it is."

Peggy and Diana glanced at each other. "What was that like?" Diana asked.

Peggy nodded. "Yeah. I'd let him protect my ass at night."

Bae snickered. If only she could tell them. "I think he's gay."

"Bullshit!" Peggy spat without hesitation.

"Yeah. All he wanted to do was talk about interior decorating, the latest fashion trends, you know, stuff like that."

The two marshals looked at each other before they looked back at her. They weren't buying it for a second. "Yeah, right," Diana finally drawled out.

"Okay. Honestly, he slept in a chair with his feet against the door every night."

Bae could tell they weren't sure they believed that either, but that was as much as they were going to get out of her. She'd keep his secret. They were her private memories and she'd guard them jealousy.

"So, you and he didn't...?" Peggy asked.

Bae shook her head. "No. Even when there were two beds, he stayed by the door. He was very dedicated to his duty."

"You're a better woman than I am, then," Peggy purred. "I'd have jumped his ass the first night, even if we had to do it in the chair, and every night after that."

The green monster tried to peek out of its box and Bae slammed the lid shut. "You and he have never...?" she asked. If Peggy could ask Bae, Bae decided she could ask the question in return.

"No. No office romances, dammit. The Marshal frowns on it."

Diana nodded in agreement. "I can understand that. It's not a good idea, but for him, I might make an exception."

Bae couldn't help but smile. That probably meant Lou and Rob weren't involved either. She nailed the lid shut on the little green bastard. Bae didn't have to worry about any of these women taking what she wanted.

Like Rob, Peggy and Diana were personable and polite. Bae supposed the entire Marshal Service was like that if she'd given them the chance. They had an early dinner of perogies, Peggy going for food while Diana kept Bae company.

The Marshal's worked eight hours shifts. Peggy and Diana left at five, and Deputy Marshals Teegan Posey and Gianna Abbot took over, bringing sleepwear and a change of clothes for morning. The bathroom was stocked with toothpaste and other essentials, and Bae wasted no time getting out of her stained and dirty clothes.

Like Peggy and Diana, Teegan and Gianna wanted to hear all about this afternoon and the trip across country. Lou and Rob were heroes of the hour, and Gianna told Bae they'd both been released from the hospital. Both marshals going to be sore for a few days, but they'd otherwise been given a clean bill of health.

After Bae regaled the women with tales of Rob's gallantry, she retired to the bedroom. She was tired, and if she were honest with herself, a little lonely. She'd become accustomed to having Rob around, and she missed him.

She pulled Rob's card from her pocket, holding it between her fingers as she stared at it, repeating the number over and over again to etch it into her memory. She closed her eyes and repeated the number back before checking to see if she had it correct. She put the card aside and picked it up again several minutes later to see if she still remembered the number. The marshals could take the card, but they couldn't take her memory. She worked on the number off and on until bedtime, and she'd keep working on it until they took the card from her.

When Bae began to get drowsy, she tucked the card under her pillow and smiled. Once this was all over, she was calling United States Deputy Marshall Robert Michael Cogburn. He'd given her his card and said if she ever needed him, to call and he'd be there. There was absolutely no doubt she was going to need him.

Rob limped to his desk Monday morning. His back hurt so fucking much he could barely move. He ached everywhere, and what didn't ache was stiff, but his back was the worst of it. Nothing was broken, but he felt like he'd gone fifteen rounds with the proverbial eight-hundred-pound gorilla... and lost. His throat still hurt like he had the worst case of strep throat imaginable, but least his voice was starting to come back, though it certainly wasn't back to normal yet.

"You look like shit, Cogburn," Lou said as she stopped at his desk, two cups of coffee in her hands.

He smiled up at her, taking the offered cup. A nasty looking bruise was peeking out from under her shirt. "You're not exactly untarnished yourself, Hernández," he replied, his voice gravelly.

She scowled and touched her chest gently. "Yeah. A couple of gunshots to the chest will do that to you. The fucker shot me right in the tit the first time."

He grimaced in sympathy. "I'm sure Steven will be happy to comfort you." Her face clouded. "What?"

"I guess you didn't hear." He shook his head and her face darkened more. "Tuesday I was going to surprise him for lunch and caught him in the elevator playing grab-ass with some bimbo in his office. I didn't actually see them doing anything, but I knew they'd stopped whatever it was right before the doors opened. He swore they weren't doing anything, but I could tell he was lying his ass off."

"Jesus, Lou, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah. He and I are taking some time. It's okay."

Lou couldn't seem to catch a break. She might be a badass, but she didn't deserve to be shit on by all the men in her life. She and Rob were good friends, and he kind of felt sorry for her. She attracted men like moths to a flame, and her latest, Steve, was a prosecutor in the District Attorney's office. Rob had met the man only once, but he hadn't thought much of him. He'd kept his mouth shut because it was none of his business, but now he wished he'd said something to her.

"No, it's not," Rob said just as his phone rang. "This proves that Steve is even stupider than I thought." He glanced at the number and a chill passed through him. "It's the Marshal." He picked up the handset. "Cogburn."

"I need to see you in my office."

"Yes sir. I'll be right there." He hung up the phone. "Time to go face the music," he said as he rose, his slow stiffness and his grimace declaring his discomfort for all to see.

"Hey! You did good with Han. Don't let anyone tell you that you didn't, okay?"

"Thanks, Lou, I appreciate that. Here's hoping Marshal Graves sees it the same way."

He limped down to the marshal's office. "He's expecting you," Jenny said while nodding at his door.

"Close the door," the Marshal rumbled as Rob entered the large, wood paneled office.

Marshal Graves was almost sixty and had been a Southern District, New York, marshal his entire career. He'd softened with age, and was more of a politician than a cop now, but he still had the keen instincts of a smart, decorated marshal. He didn't offer Rob a chair, so he didn't sit. Rob also didn't come to attention because he couldn't.

"Seems you and SDM Gwynn were busy," the Marshal said as he propped his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands together.

"Yes, sir."

"Did you really expect I wouldn't find out?"

"I don't know what you're referring to, sir."

"You're little cross-country trip with the star witness for the Han Kwang-hoon investigation."

"I reported in daily to SDM Gwynn."

"Yes, I'm sure you did. Funny how that little bit of information never made it to my desk. You put me in a very awkward position, Deputy Marshal."

"I'm sorry, sir. That wasn't my intention."

The Marshal stared at Rob for a long moment. "Since SDM Gwynn isn't here to submit his report, I expect a full accounting on my desk by three o'clock this afternoon. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

Rob turned and slowly made his way back to his desk. Everyone was watching as he sat down, probably waiting to see if he started cleaning out his desk. After slowly settling into his chair, he touched the keyboard to wake up his computer.

"Well?" Michelle asked as she sat down in the single guest chair beside Rob's desk.

Michelle Walpole was the other side of the Hernández and Walpole team. Where Lou was big and bold, Michelle was slimmer and quieter with a girl next door cuteness and blue eyes that could steal a man's heart. She was an expert marksman with both pistol and rifle and was able to outshoot any of the other deputies, Rob included. She wasn't as strong as the men, or some of the bigger women, but she had cat like speed and reflexes, and more than one asshole had underestimated her because of her slim build only to wake up with his balls in his mouth.

"I have to submit my report."

She glanced in the general direction of the Marshal's office. "If you get fired over this, that'll suck."

He nodded. "Yeah, it would."

"Han has been singing your praises to anyone who will listen. If even half the shit she said you did is true, they should be pinning a commendation on you."

"I also broke the rules. I disobeyed a direct order from my supervisor, I failed to follow proper protocols, I was alone with a female witness, I--"

Michelle leaned in closer to prop an elbow on Rob's desk. "That's all bullshit! Any of us would have done the same. She said you were sitting against the door every night. It's not like you did the wild thing with her."

He shrugged, keeping his thoughts to himself. "That doesn't make it right."

"Sometimes you have to break the rules. The entire office is hella impressed with what you did. We're behind you one hundred percent. If they fire you over this, they're going to have a revolt on their hands."

He chuckled, wincing at the twinge of pain it caused. "Thanks, I appreciate that."

She patted him on the arm. "Lou and I will go into rotation on her protection detail as soon as Lou has a few days to recover. Anything you want me to tell her?"

There were a lot of things he wanted to tell Bae, but not through a messenger. "No. That's okay. I'm just glad she's in your and Lou's capable hands."

Michelle patted him arm again as she smiled. "You got her here. We'll take good care of her."

He nodded and smiled as Michelle rose.

Rob went to work on his report. It was hard for him to get anything done for all the well-wishers stopping by to offer their support. He loved what he did, and didn't want to lose his job, but if he did, he could at least walk out with his head high knowing all his fellow marshals supported his actions.

He told the story straight and left nothing out. Well, almost nothing. Michelle had given him a clue to the version of the story Bae was telling. He knew it was wrong, but in his report, he slept in a chair by the door each night and made no mention of their other, more intimate, activities.

He pounded away on the report for most of day. It was a long report, and when he finished, he hovered the mouse over the submit button. If he clicked submit with the report as written, he'd be committing a felony. He swallowed hard, trying to decide if he wanted to do that. He'd be compounding a bad decision with a crime.

He stared at the screen, unmoving, his guts coiling and uncoiling as the angel on his right shoulder duked it out with the devil on his left. He hadn't hurt anyone, he hadn't violated any oath, and he hadn't profited from what happened. Bae made it clear she'd welcomed their intimacy, and she was lying to protect him, but that still didn't make it right. Falsifying the details of a case was wrong and illegal.

Except it wasn't really a case, was it? Neither Bae nor Rob was under investigation. What they'd done hurt no one, but if he lied and were caught, it would bring into question every other statement he'd never made or would make. If that happened, it would be a career ender.

"Hey," Lou said, sliding into the chair beside Rob. "Working on your report for the Old Man?"

"Yeah."

She glanced at the screen. "Long report."

"Yeah. A lot happened."

"I can guess." She leaned back in the chair, squirming a little in discomfort. "It must have been hard, trying to do it all yourself, not knowing who you could trust."

She was fishing for something. He glanced at her and she held his gaze, her face impassive and giving nothing away. "It wasn't easy, no."

She nodded. "In environments like that, things can happen, things that maybe shouldn't have. Decisions get made in the heat of the moment that you later regret."

He felt sick. She knew. Somehow, Lou knew. "Yeah," he agreed softly.